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Work ill the Black Belt 

Of Soiith>*^es4 Georgia 

Within a Radius of 50 Miles 200,000 Negroes 
Can be Reached 




MANY OF OUR STUDENTS WORK IN THE PEACH 
CANNERIES DURING VACATION 



rt Valley High and Industrial School 

FORT VALLEY, GA. 

Incorporated Under the Laws of Georgia, 1895 
objects are: To Teach the Head to Think, the Heart 



to Love, and the Hands to Work 



. HUNT, 

1 Principal. 



J. H. TORBERT, 

Ass't Prin. and Fin. Agt. 



The bequest of 

Danie! Murray, 

Washington, D. d 

1925. 






FORT VALLEY 
High and Industrial School 

Leaflet No. 4 

Located at Fort Valley, Ga., 29 miles south- 
west of Macon, in the "Black Belt" of South- 
west Georgia, the Fort Valley High and In- 
dustrial School stands for the moral, intel- 
lectual and industrial development of the 
colored people of the surrounding country. 
^WKthin 50 miles 200,000 colored people can. 
be reached by the institution. The blacks 
outnumber the whites in this section three 
to one. 

PURPOSE 

The institution aims to take hold of the 
young men and women from the country 
districts and to fit them by a special course 
of training to understand the needs of our 
people, and also to give to them the ability 
and skill to cope with conditions as they 
exist, and thus become the real teachers and 
leaders in the country districts. 
ENROLLMENT 

The school employs fifteen teachers and 
officers and the enrollment varies from 350 
to 500 pupils from year to year. The size of 
the cotton crop and the price at which it is 

3 



The Collis P. Huntington Memorial, Hall 

Girls' Dormatory 




Erected by students in building trade 



sold have much to do with determining th& 
number of pupils in the Negro schools in 
Georgia. 

The prosperity — indeed, we might almost 
say, the very existence — of the masses in 
this section depends upon cotton, and many 
Negro boys and girls see their hope of at- 
tending school vanish in the small crop or 
low price of that staple, 

A larger farm, well equipped, would enab^e 
us to give profitable employment to many 
more young men, who would be taugnt the 
value of diversified farming and at the same 
time have the advantages offered by our 
night school. 

COURSE OF STUDY 

The literary training covers the English 
branches and such sciences as bear partic- 
ularly upon the industries taught — special 
attention being given to the training of 
teachers for the rural schools. Our 
students are drawn very largely from 
the farms, and in our training special em- 
phasis is laid upon the importance of farin 
work. The subject of agriculture and prac- 
tical farm work is made a part of each 
student's course. Our plan is to keep the 
student in close touch and sympatny with 
the occupation in which most of our ^people 
are engaged. This plan, to keep the students 
in touch with their former surroundings and 



to prepare them for bettering the conditions 
about them, is made a matter of nrsr con- 
sideration in 'mapping out our course of 
study and in the life and work of the school. 

One of the crying needs of the Negro 
people in Georgia today is better prepared 
teachers for the country schools. There has 
been a general educational awakening 
throughout the State during the last few 
years, but it has been confined almost en- 
tirely to the whites. So far from being 
awakened, men in position to observe and 
competent to judge, declare that the educa- 
tional conditions among the Negroes in some 
counties are less favorable today than sev- 
eral years ago. The pay offered in many 
counties — ranging from $12 to $20 per 
month — is too small to attract competent 
teachers, and in many communities the 
schools are simtply kept by persons possess- 
ing little or no qualifications for such work. 
Local taxation would seem to be the natural 
and easy remedy for such a state of affairs, 
but people themselves must have a certain 
amount of intelligence before they are able 
to see the value of such training or the need 
of the extra taxation. 

The Fort Valley school attempts to show 
the pupils the needs of the people and to 
give them the training which will best fit 
them to meet conditions in the country dis- 
tricts. Students in the upper classes visit 
schools in the country districts in company 
.with teachers and study the needs and dis- 



Class in Sewing 




Students from this department find ready employment. 



cuss plans and possibilities for overcoming 
difficulties. The industrial training of the 
students preparing for country school work 
is of great value, as it enables them not 
only to supplement the small salaiies re- 
ceived for teaching, by working at their 
trades as opportunity offers, but they als-o 
teach by example the who:esonie lesson of 
the dignity of labor. The old idea that the 
teacher is not expected to work with his or 
her hands finds no place in the training of 
students who go out from this institution. 



INDUSTRIAL WORK 

In the desire and determination to impress 
the importance -of learning to do things well, 
all students receive insiruction regularly in 
some line of industrial work, and a part of 
each school day is given to working with the 
hands. Besides agriculture, which all stu- 
dents aie required to study, and practical 
garden and farm work, the boys are taught 
carpentry, brick-laying, plastering; and the 
girls are taught laundering, cooking, plain 
sewing, dressmaking and millinery. In every 
line of industrial work the plan is to give 
not simply the theory, but Dy actual work 
from day to day under the direction of 
trained teachers to learn to do by doing. 
The crops of corn, peas, potatoes and garden 
vegetables grown this year tell of the prac- 
tical work done on the garden and farm. 
The Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hall, a 



A Class in Carpkntry 




In this shop much of the furniture used in the school 
made and repaired. 



cut of which appears in this leaflet, is the 
work of our students under tne direction o' 
foremen in the brick-laying and carpentry 
cepartments, and the tuilcling itself speaks 
louder than words of tlie efRc'er.t wcrk being 
done by the students in the building trades. 
Frcm the d'gging of tb.e cellar to the s ain- 
ing of the interior finish of this building, tlie 
boys in the building trades constituted thb 
working force. In the gir.s' industries also, 
commendable progress has been made, but 
the results are not such as we sht-Jl be ab'e 
to secure when we have better equipment, 
especially for our laundry, sewing rooms and 
millinery departments. Equipment for the 
girls' industrial rooms constitutes one of the. 
pressing needs of the institution at this time. 



RELIGIOUS TRAINING AND 

COMIViUNITY WORK 

The institution is non-sectarian, but is 
■earnestly Christian in its teaching, and the 
Bible is used as a text-book. Tiie Sabbatn 
School lessons are taught to pupils in ih© 
upper classes in order to prepare them for 
work in the Sabbath Schools in the com- 
munity. The members of the Young Wo- 
men's Christian Tem.perance Union and the 
Young iMen's Christian Association are active 
in community work. Committees from these 
organizations help regularly in the Sabbath 
Schools of Fort Valley and have als-o or- 
ganized and conduct regularly two Sabbath 

11 




A Group of Pupit^s in Advanced Grades 



Schools for the special benefit of the chil- 
dren living on some of the large peacli farms 
near Fort Valley. Bands of earnest students 
also go into the community ministering to 
the needs of the aged and sick, rendering all 
kinds of service, from the cleaning of the 
houses to the reading of the Bible. This 
community work by the students is under 
the care and direction of the teachers who 
are also active in the Sabbath Schools of 
Fort Valley, 

One of the most helpful phases of com- 
munity work has been the mothers' meet- 
ings, held som.etimes at the school, but usu- 
ally at some of the nearby homes, for the 
purpose of discussing q-uestions pertaining to 
the home life of the people. Proper care of 
children, suggestions for making the home 
attractive by cleaning, whitewashing and 
painting, the value of gardens, proper meth- 
ods of cooking plain food, and similar sub- 
jects are discussed at these meetings. 

While conditions about us are far from 
satisfactory, there is evidence that the work 
of the school is being felt in the community 
as a power for good. The buying of new 
homes and the enlargement and improve- 
ment of homes already owned, a willingness 
to make sacrifice in order to send children 
to school, tell of an awakening and a desire 
for better things. The .process is a slow 
one, but the leaven of persistent Christian 
teaching and example is gradually doing its 
work. 



13 




Stx^dents Reading the Bible in a Cabin Home. 



MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT. 

The institution is under the control of a 
Board of Trustees composed of Northern and 
Southern men of influence and standing. The 
school is not connected w'th any church or 
religious organizafon of any kind and re- 
ceives no aid from the State. The on y as- 
sured means of support are the income from 
$2,000 endowment fund and about $500 an- 
nually from the county. From tne aoove 
statement it will be seen that the institution 
is dependent in large measure upon the vol- 
untary contribution of friends for support. 
The work is regarded by the test citizens 
throughout this section as a most worthy 
charity for a needy class of people. 



SCHOLARSHIPS. 

Scholarships of fifty dollars ($50) are 
needed to aid deserving students and espe- 
cially such as give promise of usefulness. 
Money donated for this purpose is not given 
to the student direct, but is used to pay 
teachers' salaries. Students are expected to 
write letters when requested by donors, 
showing the progress made from time to 
time. Already, in many instances, mutual 
interest has been aroused between the helper 
and the helped, which has been productive 
of good and lasting results. Students thus 
aided are generally inspired because of it, 



Chapel Hall 




Chapel and Recitation Rooms. 



and feel obligated to give their lives for 
the uplift of their race. One thousand 
<loHars ($1,000) establishes a permanent 
scholarship, and it is Important that as 
many as possible of these endowment schol- 
arships be speedily secured in order that the 
•work may not be handicapped in the matter 
of securing good teachers. 



NEEDS OF THE INSTITUTION 

Under this head it may be well to make a 
distinction in the matter of the urgency of 
the needs. Wihile all the items given repre- 
sent real needs, some are more urgent than 
others. 

Needs 

1. Annual scholarships of $50 each to pay 
for the training of one student a year. 

2. $1,000 for permanent scholarships. 

3. $1,000 for heating plant. 

4. $15,000 for additional farm land and 
equipment, including barn and silos. 

5. $2,500 for enlargement and additional 
equipment of boys' industries. 

6. Books and magazines for library and 
reading room. 

Pressing Needs 

1. $10,000 for current expenses. Donations 
'Of any size are earnestly solicited for this 
purpose. 

2. $1,000 for lighting buildings and grounds. 

17 



3. $350 for alteration in rooms and for 
additional equipment of the cooking, dress- 
malcing and millinery departments. 

4. $2,000 for improvement and equipment 
of laundry, including water supply and proper 
sewerage for this department. 

5. $500 for additional equipment for farm 
— one-horse wagon, market wagon, disc har- 
row, disc plow, mowing machine, hay rake, 
plows, hand tools, harness, and seed for 
farm and garden. 

6. $1,500 for equipment and replacement 
in Huntington Hall and dining room and 
kitchen. 

Cheques should be drawn to The Fort 
Valley High and Industrial Schoiol and may 
be sent to H. A. Hunt, Principal, Fort Valley, 
Ga., or Mr, George Foster Peabody, 2 Rector 
Street, New York. 



FORM OF BEQUEST 

I give and devise to the Trustees of the 
Fort Valley High and Industrial School, 

Fort Valley, Ga., the sum of 

dollars, payable, etc. 



18 




jhe girls in the cooking classes put into practice, in the school 
kitchen, the instruction received in the practice kitchen. 



TESTIMONIALS 

The work is endorsed by the General Edu- 
cational Board, whose headquarters are at 
2 Rector Street, New York, and by promi- 
nent men and women both North and South. 

From tlie Atlanta Constitution, the em- 
bodiment of true Southern sentiment and the 
mouthpiece of the Soutli, we liave the fol- 
lowing: "The existence of the Fort Valley 
High and Industrial School for Colored Peo- 
ple, and the generous manner in which it 
has been treated by the wli'te people of 
Georgia, is creditable alike to both races, 
and out ines the true line of harmony. * * 
The teachers have the highest conception of 
the work they have undertaken, and have 
won the approbation of the leading white 
citizens of that section. It is the ambition 
of this school to become to Georgia what 
Tuskegee now is to Alabama. Located in 
the heart of the 'Black Belt,' the school can 
reach the greatest number of colored people, 
and instruct them in the handicrafts neces- 
sary to everyday life. - ='■' The white peo- 
ple of Georgia should give every encourage- 
ment to the development and maintenance 
of this institution, which must in time be- 
come one of the recognized agencies of the 
State. The ^presence of former State Senator 
Charles G. Gray in its directory gives an 
idea of what it really is. Such people abroad 
as desire to help a school with a real field 

20 





















WOKKINU ON THE SCHOOL FARM 



of usefulness could not do better than to 
remember this enterprise of the colored peo- 
ple of Fort Valley." 

Dr. Edward Everett Hale: 'We are sel- 
dom tempted to recommend Northern readers 
to give pecuniary help to Southern schools, 
but the appeal from Fort Valley differs from 
ninety-nine in a hundred of those presented 
to us." 

Dr. Booker T. Wlashington, Principal of 
Tuskegee Institute, writes: " * * * j know 
something of the work being done by Mr. 
Torbert and his co-workers at the Fort 
Valley School. If properly supported, I be- 
lieve that this institution is likely to accom- 
plish a great deal of good among our people 
in the South, especially in the State of 
Georgia. * * * yiy feeling is that any aid 
given this institution through Mr. Torbert 
will be wisely used." 

Rev. Charles L. Thompson, D.D., New York 
City: "A good work is evidently being done 
on a very economical scale." 

Hon. G. R. Glenn, former State School Com- 
missioner of Georgia, and at one time as- 
sistant to the late Dr. J. L. M. Curry, as 
agent of the Peabody and Slater Funds. 
"This school is giving needed industrial train- 
ing to the Negro race; and those who have 
money to give, cannot, in my judgment, give 
more wisely than to this worthy cause." 

Mr. James Draper, Worcester, Mass.: "I 
have visited the Fort Valley High, Normal 
and Industrial Institute, and highly recom- 
mend the good work of that place." 

22 



This leaflet is sent out as an appeal for 
aid with the hope and belief that friends will 
be found who are in sympathy with our ef- 
forts to better conditions among our people, 
enabling us thus to do our full share in the 
general development of our common country. 



2a 



BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

Mr. Theodore J. Lewis, Chairman, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Rev. Lee O'Neal, Vice-Chmn, Ft. 'Va;iey, Ga.. 

Mr. C. H. Nixon, Secretary, Fort Valley, Ga. 

Mr, George Foster Peabody, New York. 

J. H. Schenck, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hon. C. G. Gray, Fort Valley, Ga. 

Mr. J. H. Torbert, Piedmont, Ga. 

Hon. J. H. Hale, South G.astonbury, Conn. 

Hon. H. A. Mathews, Fort Valley, Ga. 

Mr. H. A. Hunt, Fort Valley, Ga. 

Rev. E. R. Carter, D.D., Atlanta, Ga. 

Mr. S. B. Chapin, New York. 

Mr. Lincoln K. Passmore, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Mr. Warren Logan, Tuskegee, Ala. 

Prof. W. H. Spencer, Columbus, Ga. 

Mr. H. J. Jordan, Fort Valley, Ga. 



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019 631 493 3 



